The biggest weight-loss mistake that people make is this – they exercise more but do not change their eating habits. You may not believe me when I say that weight loss without a gym membership is possible, but it’s true. You CAN lose weight without exercise. However, exercise alone will not help you lose weight unless you change your eating habits. Of course, exercise is important for your overall health and well-being. As a qualified personal trainer, I know that cardio-vascular and weight training programmes are fantastic for burning fat, burning calories, building muscle, and building the motivation to live a healthier life. As a working mother though, I know that not everyone can afford a gym membership, and not everyone has the time or even the childcare support to work out regularly. So, if you want to start losing weight without working out, read on.

Protein, protein, protein!

Eat more protein, I can’t emphasise this enough. Most people do not eat enough protein, yet protein is the key to diet-based weight loss. A simple way to calculate how much protein you should be consuming is this – eat 1g of protein for every 1lb of body weight. A person who weighs 140lb should aim to eat 140g protein every day. Beware though, not all protein sources are equal, you need to opt for foods that are high in protein but low in calories. For example, cashew nuts are a great source of protein, but are also highly calorific, so unless you’re trying to bulk up, only eat them in small amounts. The table below compares the calorific value and protein levels of some commonly known protein sources:

From the table, we can see that whey protein and chicken breast have a much higher protein-to-calorie ratio than nuts, therefore eating more chicken breast instead will mean that you increase your protein intake without increasing your calorie intake.

You may know that protein can help to increase strength and muscle mass, but can it really help with weight loss? Yes, it can. A study of women who were overweight showed that increasing the amount of protein in their diet from 15% to 30% meant that the women reduced their daily calorie intake by an average of 441 calories, without intentionally restricting their food intake[2]. In other words, although they weren’t ‘dieting’, they ate less because they didn’t feel as hungry.

How does protein help? The answer is that protein reduces the levels of a hormone called ghrelin – known as the ‘hunger hormone’ – and also raises the level of peptide YY – a hormone which makes us feel full. So, next time you’re shopping for food, think about what you buy and choose HIGH protein foods.

Count your calories.

I’ve talked a lot about protein, but monitoring your calorie intake is still important for weight loss. Yes, higher levels of some macro nutrients (such as protein) are really helpful, but one simple fact remains: you will only lose weight if you eat less calories than you expend. Keeping track of your calories will help you to plan your meals (and your shopping list) and will mean you can monitor your food consumption.

Calorie counting may sound tedious and time consuming, but thanks to technology it is actually very easy. With a simple click on your smart phone screen, you can download an app that does most of the hard work for you. I recommend ‘My fitness pal’, a simple app that calculates the calories for foods that you search for. It may also help to get a set of kitchen scales, so you can weigh the food you eat and get a more accurate calorie calculation.

Change your eating habits

There is a saying that ‘old habits die hard’, and changing your eating habits to lose weight is a gradual process. It is important to create new, healthy eating patterns as well as breaking the old, unhealthy habits. Go easy on yourself – make small changes, and make them regularly. For example, watching TV while eating is a common distraction that leads to overeating. So, if you usually watch TV while eating, try sitting at the table to eat and listen to a podcast instead. You will be more focused on your food, and more aware of the signs that you are getting full. The TV can wait until you’ve finished.

It is also important to understand why people overeat. For many, eating and over eating, is tied up with their emotions – they eat when they are sad, or happy, or to celebrate, or as a reward. If this sounds like you, then try to replace your mood-driven eating with another pleasurable activity. Having a relaxing bubble bath, meditating, phoning a friend, or enjoying a low-calorie warm drink -these are all simple actions that can help you to feel calm, relaxed and happy, and will help ease the transition from emotional eating.

Social eating can also be a barrier to weight loss. You may prepare a healthy, high-protein chicken breast salad for lunch at work, but if you go out afterwards to eat with colleagues, and maybe enjoy a drink or two, you won’t lose weight. Having a social life is important for your emotional well-being, but to lose weight, limit your social outings to no more than once a week.

Be consistent

Consistency is crucial for long-term weight loss. My clients are full of motivation and willpower when they start their weight loss journey, but over time their motivation and willpower ebb away. All too often, people give up, and inevitably those people start to gain back the weight that they’ve lost.

To lose weight, you need to WANT to lose it, because maintaining weight loss is not easy. So, before you begin, you need to understand yourself and the process better. Consider the following:

Ask yourself – WHY do you want to lose weight? Deep down inside, why is this important to you? Weight loss is hard, there will be days where you struggle. Spending a little time each day focusing on the reason you want this will help you stay on track and keep you motivated.

Don’t set yourself up to fail. Set small, realistic weight loss goals, and when you reach them, set some more. Don’t set goals that mean you have to starve yourself.

Be consistent in your new eating patterns, and in any exercise that you do. This is the ONLY way to keep off the weight that you’ve worked so hard to lose.

Don’t let a setback stop you. You may eat one ‘bad’ meal. That’s fine, forget about it and move on. Don’t give up and make poor food choices for the rest of the day, or the rest of the week. Setting realistic goals and being consistent are key to achieve this.

My take-home message is simple: healthy nutrition and positive eating habits are the key to your successful weight loss journey. Once you understand that, and start making those lifestyle changes, you will be on the way to achieving your weight loss goal without even setting foot inside a gym.